Background/Purpose: Low back pain is a public health problem throughout the world. Particularly in the nursing profession, this condition is related to absenteeism and lawsuits. Emotional, physical and psychosocial forms of stress in the workplace are determinant factors of the onset and perpetuation of low back pain. The aim of the present study was to evaluate gesture behavior and knowledge on low back pain among nurses with and without low back pain and correlate these factors with pain, physical functioning and quality of life.

Methods: An observational, controlled, cross-sectional study was carried out involving 120 female nurses at the São Paulo Hospital (Brazil): 60 with low back pain and 60 without low back pain (control group). The two groups were matched for age. The following were the inclusion criteria for the group with back pain: actively exercising the nursing profession; age between 18 and 65 years; work performed in infirmary, emergency ward and/or intensive care unit; minimum daily workload of six hours; and self-report of low back pain on the majority of days in the previous three months with an intensity greater than 3 cm on a visual analogue scale (VAS ranging from 0 to 10 cm). The same inclusion criteria were employed for the control group, without low back pain. Individuals involved in litigation, those with a history of back surgery and pregnant women were excluded from the study. The measures used for the evaluation were the Gesture Behavior Test, Low Back Pain Knowledge Questionnaire, VAS for low back pain, Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire and the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short–Form Health Survey (SF-36) to assess quality of life.

Results: Mean age in both groups was 31 years. In the group with low back pain, the mean VAS score was 5.6 cm and the mean score on the Roland Morris questionnaire was 2.7. No statistically differences between groups were found regarding the scores of the Low Back Pain Knowledge Questionnaire or Gesture Behavior Test (p=0.531 and p=0.292, respectively). Statistically lower scores were found in the group with low back pain for the following SF-36 domains: physical functioning (p<0.001), physical role (p=0.015), pain (p=0.001), general health perceptions (p=0.015), vitality (p<0.001) and mental health (p=0.001).

Conclusion: No differences were found when comparing nurses with or without low back pain regarding gesture behavior or knowledge on low back pain. Nurses with low back pain showed a decrease in some domains of quality of life.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/assessment-of-gesture-behavior-and-knowledge-on-low-back-pain-among-nurses/